Sunday, June 18, 2017

The World of a Special Need

It's a big day in Strangerville. Jolyn and I got divorced. She took the kids, the house, the car, and my entire rubber stamp collection. I got her wigs.

Because Jolyn is going to be starting grad school in the fall and because she will be away for a lot of the summer, she decided to retire her jersey. Did I just make a sports reference? Am I an athlete now? Did this just become a sports blog?

Meg Walter, whom you know from such hits at Strangerville Live, is stepping in to fill Jolyn's medically-alarming big shoes as my co-host at Strangerville. Jolyn is going to continue to co-produce Strangerville Live and assist with some Strangerville production and Shorts. Nonetheless, we will miss her profanity and comedic nudity.

When Jolyn agreed to help me launch Strangerville over a year and a half ago, I really had no idea what we were getting into. The journey we've gone on together during the last 18 months, in which we interviewed nearly 60 people, produced dozens of great stories, and started our own live show, will forever be an incredibly happy memory for me.

Thank you, Jo Metro. I love you.

This time in Strangerville, we explore a unique subset of mother/son relationships. What do these relationships look like through the lens of an uncommon limitation? A man apologizes for his mom failing to respond to friendly greetings. A heartbroken mother recounts the most impactful years of her life. And a young woman navigates a complex relationship with a very special five-year-old.

Intro: We're Still The Same People by Matt BroomeSegments:
1. Not Always What You Want story by La Donna Keaton, music by Jared Bird
2. Christopher by Jeanine Spano

16 comments:

Jolynnnnnnn! (And the sound of the hearts of strangers breaking all across the states of Seriously Is This Even America Anymore?! Also I have to know, who got custody of Mr. Doodles in this whole tragedy? I know I could scroll back up and double check but #lazy and #cantseethroughthetears (Aside to Jolyn: best of luck to you, strangers all across the world are cheering for you to take grad school and rock its world.)

Cried my eyes out listening to Aunt LaDonna talk about John. I remember visiting as a child, but hearing her talk about those things we could never understand as kids was amazing. She is amazing. So grateful to her for sharing her story, and to you for putting it all together.

Me too! That was so amazing. I love these stories so much Eli! It makes me look at everyone in a whole different light. It's so crazy growing up knowing someone and sort of knowing their story but really not knowing it at all! Thanks so much for these stories😂

The only reason that the tears have been restrained in my eyes at Jolyn's departure is the promise of future contribution's. As long as it wasn't one of those half-hearted "keep in touch" moments making minimal or no effort at future contact. But I think I can trust Eli to stalk Jolyn enough to maintain contact amidst the grad school music-, uh, busyness.

La Donna's story gave me the ugly cries. What an amazing amazing person. I just want to hug her. I loved this whole episode. I remember seeing Jeanine leave a comment on Stranger about potty training. I love that her story got shared with the Strangerverse. Thank you thank you thank you.

Also, I always knew I loved Frank Sinatra. Now I love him so much more.

I'm so grateful for this episode. I've never commented before but this one is very close to my heart. I have two children with chronic auto immune issues. It took a very long time and A LOT of heartache to figure things out. In all of it there were so many blessing just like La Donna said. My kids will probably never be healed but I think it has made me a much more empathetic and compassionate person to others. Not really the way I wanted to learn it but I'm grateful for all that has happened.